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Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Feature Week-DAY 2: Archive 102 "Arch Shoes"

Everyday this week I will be featuring independent designers that contribute to the male fashion movement. Today, get identified with Chris Burns' company: ARCH SHOES.

Chris Burns, creator of Arch Shoes

There are a lot of possible options in naming a
brand of shoes, why “Arch”? What was that process like finalizing a name?

First, Harrison, I truly appreciate you taking an interest in me and ARCH. It’s
very hard to get anyone to write about what I am doing since there isn’t an
endorser, or a big name behind the brand. I initially wanted the company to be
ARC. ARC was going to stand for Athletes Require Competition. As a pretty big sneaker lover, I remembered
that there was a brand that actually had A.R.C. on the tongue of their shoe.
Once I saw that I simply added the H and made it silent. I’m a former
collegiate athlete and a coach. I always told my players that what they needed
the most wasn’t talent; it was heart, so the H fell right into place. The funny
thing is I haven’t even trademarked the name. I guess I shouldn’t be saying
this. The first trademark failed and I have yet to continue the process again.
I figured that if the brand caught on, honestly it wouldn't matter and if it is
cool enough to steal, I can do it again the right way and somebody else can
have it. I think I take things a bit too
casually.

I think it’s amazing that you, a young African
American business man has his own brand of tennis shoes. If that’s not
inspiring, I’m not sure what is. Take me through the steps of how you initially
had the idea of starting this business venture and how you got it off the ground
to produce your first shoe?

Once again thanks … for calling me young, lol. Thanks for the compliment. I
honestly don’t think about this being inspiring. I was in education for 17
years and I always think about that as inspiring. The initial steps started
with a brand named Sho-Shot in 2005. I basically placed that company on my back
and was able to help get the Puerto Rican legends (Big Shout to Kool Bob Love)
in the Sho-Shot uniforms and I also was able to get 9 colleges into the gear. I
did this by branding the company through basketball camps and my Center Court
Basketball website. I funded the launch of the shoe for Sho-Shot through loans
and helped to build the brand and the actual owner decided to sell it. I didn’t
get any assistance in making a new shoe or recovering any of my funds invested
and I lost everything. That was in 2008. In 2009 I had the idea for ARCH and
after almost losing everything, I couldn’t get any credit or any financial
assistance so that was out of the question. I slowly began to pay for outsoles
and samples with a manufacturer in China. Everything was coming out of my
pocket so it was a long and slow process, but it turned out for the best
because it enabled me to make small quantities of shoes. It’s more detailed, but
for the sake of brevity I’ll stop there.

What was your marketing plan when first
launching your company, and would you say it was thoroughly executed? Since
being around for a few years, how do you market now?

I guess that is really my biggest problem. I was working from a local and small
perspective. I was going to originally make basketball shoes and continue using
my camps and website to promote. When everything went downhill, I stopped
running the website. This means that the initial plan to sell ARCH as a pure
athletic shoe company was dead. I literally turned away from the athletic part
and I didn’t have a marketing plan at all. I just knew I had a spot at a local
market in Memphis and that since I was selling Nike, Adidas, Puma and other brands
at the market, I could sit my shoes right next to those. It worked; I sold my
first release which was called the Tori. It was a hightop casual shoe. I did not have a marketing plan still. I was
kind of just aiming and firing and hoping different things would work. The
problem was in 2009 into 2010 my focus was on building the contacts for
manufacturing and getting my financial stability back in place, so I sold
sneakers and taught. I even had a pretty solid ebay page and that carried me
through 2010 into 2011 and allowed me to make enough money to keep producing
shoes. From 2009 to 2011 my focus was on making shoes. In 2010 I made a running
shoe and I sold it at the market as well. I also had a Facebook page and I used
my fan page to sell those as well. (Big shout out to Clay in Maryland who was
the first person to purchase a pair online). However, I still did not have a
real marketing plan. So I guess in short I didn’t execute anything. I simply
made shoes, took them and sold them. In 2011 the local market that I set up in
was raided because there were tons of counterfeits there. The market was shut
down and even the legitimate small biz people basically lost the ability to set
up. I hadn’t planned for this, but I my ebay account was also closed. In July of
2011 I literally lost all of the opportunities for making money on my sneakers
and by selling sneakers. I had another huge setback. I took the summer and
reorganized everything, but I still didn’t come up with a plan. I knew I had a
solid sneaker business so I focused on that and I still made shoes. In 2011 I
launched The Allen casual shoe, but I didn’t really care about it. I did it
almost to save face.

When I started social media was not as
prevalent, unless you count myspace. I slowly implemented Facebook into my
plans and I had over 500 likes on my fan page, but I was not selling any of my
shoes. I had moved my sneaker shop to Amazon.com and since that was doing very
well, I basically used The Allen casual shoe as a giveaway to customers who
were paying above retail for limited release sneakers. I think that was my
first real marketing plan. This is what I have been doing since I launched the
Amazon store in October 2011. I finally (August 2012) have what I think is a
solid marketing plan, but it’s definitely ridiculous that I went 3 years
without any real direction.

Your love for sneakers surely had a huge impact
on wanting to start your own shoe company. Would you say that you saw an
untapped market of tennis shoes that “Arch” could capitalize on or did you feel
the need to compete with other brands with the idea that your designs were
better?

As an educator, I was the cool professor/teacher. I wore Jordans to work and
basically I’ve always loved sneakers. When I started ARCH, as I said earlier,
it was to pick up where I left off with Sho-Shot. I wanted to get into
athletics. If I were to say I saw a market, I would be lying. However, now I
actually do have a demographic that I am trying to target. I do see an area
that has openings. There are a lot of brands out there in the casual/athletic
shoe market. By default I’m in competition with these other brands, but I see
myself as a solid alternative. I know my costs and I work primarily alone. I
sometimes call on Ian Gale who is a super talented graphic artist from Barbados, but because I primarily
work alone, I know my costs and I don’t have to pass costs on to my customers.
I don’t plan to grow to the extent that I am not an active part of the company.
I feel that if I can come up with a flagship casual shoe (The Allen) I can
literally leave it unchanged and simply play around with materials to keep it
timely. In other words, I don’t look to outperform other companies, I’m not
financially able to do that, but I can give a person a shoe that uses great
materials and style at cost point that is attractive.

CG097 II running shoe in cobalt, yellow and black

CG097 II Running shoe in gray, red and black

CG097 II Running shoe in black and yellow

You first started with your “CG097” running shoe
that you would sale out of a vendor booth at a popular flea market in Memphis,
TN. Those sold out solely with customers who were shopping at the market. You
then ventured into your “Allen” casual tennis shoe and you just released the
“CG097 II” which is your second edition of running shoes. I’m interested in
knowing how the designing process is when coming up with your blueprints. I’m
sure it’s not just drawing a sketch and shipping it off. Is there a lot of
technology involved?

No there is not a lot of technology involved at all. Actually the first shoe I
made was The Tori. (my shoes are named after my children except for the CG097
which is named after my point guard at Crawford H.S. in San Diego, Courtney
Graham-Courtney was murdered in San Diego in 2010 and the 097 is my Navy Boot
camp company.) I sold both the Tori and the CG at the market. With the CG097II
running shoe I kind of followed suit with the first CG. When I was testing the
first CG I became a bit of a novice runner. I couldn’t make a running shoe and
sell without testing it. I couldn’t do that. With the second running shoe I
knew I was a better with a shoe that allowed my foot to move more naturally. I
took cues from the Nike Free and from the Puma Faas 300 and combined them to
make the new CG. I often take cues from tried and true styles and then I add my
own flavor. My design technique is primarily a form of patchwork, but with the
new CG I brought on Ian Gale and he designed that based on my feedback. Overall
though, I simply sketch, scan and then work on renderings with my manufacturer,
so it is very straightforward.

To get into a little bit of the history before
“Arch” you first started with an eBay store that got shut down, and the flea market in which you also
sold exclusive sneakers also got shut down because of counterfeiters from other
vendors. With both businesses’ bombing around the same time, how did you keep
pushing? When you’re use to making a set income and it all gets taken away, I’m
sure that has to have some kind of effect on you, right?

Great question. In 2011 I had
successfully been operating my ebay store and I was making a significant amount
of money. I talk about this on my blog at the CCB website. I go into great
detail about how unfair the whole process that ebay and paypal handled the
matter. I don’t like to dwell on things, but at the same time my ebay account
was closed, the local market was shut down as well, but that was simply a
matter of time. I was the only person in the market allowed to keep my shoes
out on the table because I had receipts from Nike and Footlocker for my
purchases. My shoes were real. The other vendors were selling knock offs, and
the sad thing was while I made a pretty good amount of money, these guys were
making between 10K and 20K a month on counterfeits. When that market was busted
on average over 5000 people a weekend were visiting. This was a crazy amount of
traffic.

Anyway, back to the question. I think
certain things take place to make you reconsider your efforts. That June I
literally lost my living income and for almost three months I had to reorganize
my business. I became a wholeseller to the people who were selling on websites
and ebay. Since I no longer had a paypal account, I had to literally figure out
how to earn money. I submitted my personal store website to Amazon.com and it
took almost another three months to get approved. I finally was up and running
again by November which is when I began work on The Allen and it released in
January of this year.

In order to answer your question I will say
this, if you aren’t really paying attention and rolling along, you will encounter
situations that force you to adjust. The difference between people who succeed
and those who give up is persistence and effort. It also takes a lot of
research. When these things happened to my business I began reading business
books and learning different tactics and I learned to organize my thoughts and
find people who helped to build dreams instead of hindering my process. This
was vital. In short, the bad situation became a good situation.

One day you can have something and the next it’s
gone. What did that experience teach you about saving your money?

Saving money… I am not really saving as much as reinvesting money into things
that I feel are a sure bet. Saving money is needed for the future obviously,
but realizing that things can be here one day and gone the next actually
motivated me to make more things happen.

I am currently worried more about
increasing the amount of money I have in order to develop more ideas for ARCH
and to maintain the Amazon sneaker store. I think people who sit around trying
to save are the same people who are afraid to take a chance. I’ve hit rock
bottom before, so I am unafraid to try different things. If I lose, I lose. I
stand up, shake it off and get over it. I have a tagline for the company, Stay
Motivated. That is why I chose that tag. If you stay motivated you can keep
pushing forward.

I’ve learned that saving money is a
fallacy. In order to make money, your money has to be at work, but it can’t be
foolish. Right now, I would have to say that I’m on the borderline of being a
good business person and a little foolish. I keep making shoes although I am
not selling any. I think though that I am preparing for people to begin seeing
the brand and actually saying, “Hey, those look good, I think I’ll try it.” Maybe
I’m wrong, but right now I think this is what I should be doing.

You were back at it again after hitting rock
bottom. You opened up an Amazon Store (click on the link here) .
In fact you still host your amazon store and it’s your main source of
income which means you’re not doing badly on sneaker sales. Amazon is not like eBay,
you have to go through a channel of commands to get approved. What was that
process like and while in limbo how did you continue to move your product?

I kind of covered this earlier, but
during the process of being approved for Amazon, I sold wholesale through my
own personal website. Instead of making 100 dollars on a pair of sneakers, I
only made 10-20 dollars because I was selling in bulk. I had to stay afloat so
my goal was to turn shoes/money over quickly. I would bring the money in, pay
my bills, and then take the rest and buy more shoes in bulk and flip it again.

Allen Navy Blue x Perry Denim Watch

ARCH Casual Sand x Snow Patrol Perry Watch

Big Boi of OutKast representing Rumbatime

ARCH casual teamed up in collaboration with
Rumbatime to use their Perry Watch as a complimentary addition to each casual
shoe, which is available on your site for purchase. How were you able to reach
out to Rumbatime which is in New York and convince them that your company would
be perfect to house this product?

Rumbatime is a great watch company. I
always liked their cool, stylish, playful take on classic silhouettes. As a
brand they kind of exude the classic style with a modern edge at a great price
point. Their philosophy and marketing attracted me and I thought that their
watch would complement my shoes well. I reached out to them and decided to
purchase the watches and include them in any sell of the casual shoe I
attained. This is one of the recent marketing ideas I had. Remember I really
hadn’t thought about a way to market my brand. The ARCH x Rumbatime
collaboration is a very cool, classic combination and I think it will make a
difference and show people interested in ARCH that I appreciate their business.

I can only imagine the multitasking you go
through on a daily basis to please your customers who come from all over the
world to browse your site through internet searches. Do you have any employees
or do you work alone?

I have always worked alone until 2 weeks
ago. I used to be the designer, artist, web designer, shipping and receiving,
buyer, customer service and courier for ARCH. This is a business without any
downtime at all. I am always working on something. Not to mention I decided
this year to develop and work on my writing career, which adds even more pressure
to an already busy day. While it is time consuming, it’s what I want to do. I
wake up and I feel good about building my business. I hired my first employee
(cheers). It was only in a part time capacity, but it shows growth. As a matter
of fact, hiring my newbie (thanks Co Co) has actually allowed me to get my
shoes unpacked and posted. The shoes sat for almost a month on the floor of my
living room while I was basically running the Amazon store. Since actually
bringing someone in, although honestly I can’t afford to do this, has enabled
me to actually incorporate my new marketing plans and become more focused.

Your “Allen causal shoe” is very simplistic in
design. There aren’t a lot of huge logos or funky colors. I would say this shoe
is more for everyday wear solely for comfort, although it’s still very capable
of transitioning into a fashion shoe based on how it is styled as I have
showcased in the pictures above. Was having a transitional shoe your primary
focus in determining its look?

Definitely. I used to be a teacher and college professor. When I was in my 20s
I could get away with wearing Adidas and Nike to work. I was still cool enough
to pull that off. As I got older, I knew that I needed a shoe that would allow
me to stand up all day in a classroom, but I didn’t like the styles that were
out there. I wanted something clean, cool and casual. Something that could
actually be dressed up if needed, and could be subtle and appropriate. I knew I
wanted the ultimate casual Friday shoe. The Allen is my standard. It is a shoe
that I can simply change the lining, or materials and the whole look of the
shoe changes. If I could compare it to cars, The Allen is like my E Class. It
is a daily driver that is just cool enough to be used on date night or at the
office casually.

Who is your target market and why did you decide
to pursue that particular demographic?

I guess I can say I’m pulling a Harrison
T. Crite. I’m catering to men who like fashion and realize that wearing Jordans
doesn’t mean you are dressing well. In other words, I’m not gunning after the
under 25 market although anyone can wear the brand. My target market is the
28-49 year old male who appreciates a nice pair of denims, khaki, cargos and a
stylish shirt, but doesn’t want to wear a hard bottom shoe all of the time or a
boot. I also realized after selling other brands for so long that although
there are brands out there that cater to men who are casual and cool, they
often have a price range that exceeds daily wear. It’s like this, I love Cole
Hahn, but when I pay 400 for a pair of shoes it definitely is not going to be a
daily wear type of shoe. My goal is to give the guy that will wear a pair of
Balenciaga Patchworks one day a solid alternative for daily wear. A shoe he can
go to a bar in and when someone drops a drink on his shoes, he might get upset
but he will walk away and say, “I can’t believe he dropped a drink on my
ARCHs.” Lol

What’s up next for “Arch Shoes”? What are you
planning on releasing for the winter collection? Can we be looking for any new
styles or colorways?

What’s next… continuing to learn how to
reach out to the market and get people to discover ARCH. Right now, I’ve
finally developed what I think is a strong strategy. What many new brands who
are working from scratch, on their own without mentors, fail to realize is that
trademarks are important, but all of that stuff doesn’t matter if people don’t
know you exist. What I recently learned is that distribution is king. Now I
knew this, but remember I was working on a local, small level. A brand isn’t a
brand unless it can be sold on bigger websites or be purchased by stores. In
order to this you either have to go to trade shows, which I am not really ready
to do, or you have to find a way to reach a large audience. For me this has
been adding ARCH to my Amazon store. Amazon has allowed me the ability to be
seen by a lot of people. I actually signed up for Amazon Ads and although this
has not produced dividends (I’ve only been using it since July 30th)
my shoes have been seen by more people than I ever could have directed to my
site through social media. The next thing is basically beginning to convert
impressions and clicks into purchases. That is the short term.

In the long term I have redesigned and
given the Allen what I feel are better design cues for the Fall release which
should be arriving at the beginning of September. I decided for the fall to use
a combination of suede and denim to make 4 new colorways. I removed the quilted
lining and I am now using a leather lining. I also changed the insoles to the
same insoles I used in the running shoe which is a vented breathable insole
that is cushioned. All of these things I think will add to the quality. I am
also looking at a winterized version of the running shoe, but these are the
next two things.

Oh the colorways for the Fall release are
as follow, Denim Rust, Denim Oak, Denim Night and Red Wine and an Olive version
of the shoes (which is a bit of a venture for me on both of those colors).

What would be your “I made it moment” when
seeing the true fruits of your labor paying off?

Honestly, I already feel that I’ve made
it. Now actually selling the shoes would make me feel good, but success for me
is about good friends, and family. As far as ARCH is concerned, being able to
get feedback like the feedback I have on my Amazon store would be a good start.
I’ve had customers write me and thank me personally although they are the ones
who should be thanked. But I guess the real “I made it moment” would be when I
reach my target of selling 6000-12000 pair of shoes a year. I really want what
I’m doing to be special. I’ve always found it funny how people feel unique in a
pair of shoes when there are over 100,000 people wearing the exact same shoe.

I guess I will always be looking for an, “I
made it moment,” and I think this is okay. I’m trying to improve and get
better, so I guess seeing the fruits of my labor pay off will be when I am able
to hire 10 people and provide them with better lives and to be able to
regularly give of myself and my
resources to help other people. I think that is the educator in me though.

If you weren't making tennis shoes, what would
you be doing?

Without a doubt teaching and writing more.

To check out the full Arch Shoes collection and to inquire about ordering, they can be reached via these outlets:

If you have a product that contributes to male fashion or know someone who does, send a media press kit, press release or any helpful information to TheXStylezBlog@gmail.com.

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8 comments:

Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule and interviewing me. I'm honored and overwhelmed. I didn't expect a photo shoot with a model that makes my footwear look like a 200 dollar shoe! Dope stuff. Harrison you are the best. I truly appreciate your interest and only hope I can reach expectations.Chris B.www.arch-usa.com

You are very welcome Chris!!! Had to trough a little "X Stylez" on it (lol) and make it my own! I'm glad you liked it.. SURPRISE! Thanks again for allowing me to feature your awesome product! Truly an honor!